


A Place to Start

by tptigger



Category: Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Genre: Gen, Pizza, going to friends for advice, knowing your place in life, or not advise this is R.J. we're talking about here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 16:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9191207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: Casey needs to figure out what's rattling around in his head and R.J. is happy to help.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara/gifts).



R.J. was usually very glad to be able to just make pizzas. He'd had to hire some new staff, sure. Chip was a little rambunctious sometimes, but he did a good job. Ethan was older, and in grad school, but this just meant he was sedate and responsible--and if he sometimes had to swap shifts or grade papers during a lull in business, it just made the job part of life.

The hard part was he'd also had all five of his closest friends move away all at once. Fran and Dom sent lots of postcards. The others would send chatty emails and call occasionally, but mostly R.J. missed them.

It was therefore somewhat surprising when, six months after Dai Shi had been defeated and the team had gone their separate ways, Casey walked into Jungle Karma Pizza. There were bags under his eyes and the usual grin and spring in his step were missing. If R.J. thought for one second Casey would let him do so in front of strangers, he would have gathered his teammate in a giant bear (wolf) hug.

"Casey?" R.J. said, smiling widely. "What brings you here?"

"What, I can't just swing by to visit?" Casey's voice was so full of false cheer that R.J. was tempted to banish Chip into the back room or just hug Casey anyway.

Instead, R.J. just rolled his eyes. "Well, of course you _can_ , but you usually _don't_ , so I'm thinking there must be a reason."

Casey scuffed the bottom of his shoes, his eyes watching them as if he couldn't feel them. "I had a craving for a Thrilla Gorilla."

"Coming right up," Chip said. "I got this boss, you go ahead and catch up." He winked and went into the kitchen.

R.J. stared after Chip for a moment--he was enthusiastic and a good worker, but not usually the quickest on the uptake. He supposed it was a sign of how bad Casey looked.

"R.J.?" Casey said.

"Right," R.J. said, feeling a little thrown. "Let's..." He slung an arm around Casey's neck, pulling him into a quick one-armed hug and then steered him towards the corner table, where he and Casey sat across from each other.

"So how are things at the Pai Zhua academy?" R.J. asked.

Casey squirmed.

Oops. He'd been going for small talk to warm Casey up, not to the heart of the matter.

"I..."

"Lonely? Too many rules? You feel you were meant for greater things? You miss TV?" R.J. rattled off the top of his head.

"Not lonely--exactly," Casey said. "Sometimes I feel like I'm playing third wheel with Lily and Theo."

"You don't have any other friends?" R.J. asked.

Casey shrugged. "I went from the oldest cub to the youngest master. It's... what it is. I like teaching, I guess, but I feel isolated. We were saving the world, and now that Dai Shi is defeated... There's still a lot of good to be done, but I don't feel like it's necessarily what I'm doing now. Don't you feel that way?"

"What, you think there isn't a lot of good to be done in a vegetarian pizza place?" R.J. asked.

"I always figured you used it to fund your expeditions to do things like scaring away fish at fishing competitions."

"Nah, I do that for fun," R.J. replied.

Casey grinned. "Of course you do."

"I love pizza," R.J. said. "I live and breathe pizza, and yeah, the only way Jungle Karma ever saved the world was as a secret ranger base, but it's what I love. You don't have to keep teaching Pai Zhua forever if it's not what you love."

"I don't know what to do instead."

"Also a silly reason to keep doing something," R.J. said.

"I'm kind of fond of eating," Casey pointed out.

R.J. laughed. "Well, that's a better reason. At least in the short term. Although I know a pizza place that would take you back in a second. Chip and Ethan are great, but I'm working a lot more."

"How did you know you wanted to open a pizza place?" Casey asked.

"I was always frustrated with my pizza options," R.J. said. "Even in a college town with four pizza places in a two mile radius. And I liked making my own. And then the leftovers in the fridge started disappearing. And then someone offered to pay me to cook pizza for them, and I discovered that I liked doing that."

"So by accident."

"Was it? Was it an accident that you became the Red Ranger?"

"Maybe?" Casey said. "I was in the right place at the right time."

"To do something extraordinary," R.J. replied. 

Casey frowned. "So does it matter where I am or not?"

"Well, if you are going to be in the right place at the right time, you must first learn what the right place is."

Chip approached the table carrying two plates. He set them down. "Pizza should be out in a minute. I know the boss probably wants water but..."

"Water's fine for me too," Casey replied.

"Thanks, Chip," R.J. said.

"Anytime, boss man." Chip skipped back to the kitchen.

Casey raised an eyebrow.

"He's a little enthusiastic, but he does a good job."

Casey grinned. "Yeah, I figured, I just..." He shook his head. "Could you be less new age cryptic and give me some actual advice for once?"

R.J. chuckled. "Casey, if you wanted actual advice instead of help figuring out what was rattling around in your head, you'd have gone to Lily."

"She'd try to talk me out of leaving," Casey said.

"If you don't want her to talk you out of it, maybe you do know what you want."

Casey frowned. "I just know what I don't want."

"I knew I didn't want my dad's life, so I left. That's a starting point."

"Yeah, but what do I do next?"

"Whatever you decide, Casey, I'll have your back."

"I know."

"Besides getting busier, one of these days Ethan is going to walk through those doors and tell me he got a swanky internship at a tech company or a training grant and give me notice. I'll send you an email before I put out a want ad."

Casey grinned. "Thanks."

"And if you don't want to wait that long, I've got a friend who runs a Korean barbecue near UC Berkley if you want me to put in a good word."

"Like I could get into Berkley."

"You can get in anywhere if you put your mind to it, little cub."

Casey grinned. "It's not that easy."

"I've seen your high school transcripts, little cub, a 4.0 average and a couple well written recommendations go farther than you think," R.J. said. "And Chip tutors high school students for the SATs in his spare time. You could do that with him on your breaks."

Casey blushed. "I'll take that under advisement."

"Don't feel you're stuck somewhere just because you made a decision, Casey," R.J. said. "It may take a little longer than you'd like, but you can always change your mind."

Chip approached the table, gently set the pizza between them, and drifted off again.

R.J. took a slice. "Did you really want a Thrilla Gorilla?"

Casey took a slice and a big bite. "It's the sixth thing I miss about this place."

"Don't talk with your mouth full." R.J. paused, then looked at the table. "Yeah, me too. I can show you all the postcards Dom and Fran have been sending after we eat."

"I'd like that. They've been sending some to us too, we'll have to compare notes."

R.J. grinned.

Casey took another bite of pizza.

R.J. wondered how it was that Casey still came to him with problems, even the ones Casey couldn't punch his way out of. He supposed he was good at being a sounding board.

Not that he would ever mind doing that for one of his teammates.

"So what other Jungle Karma gossip have I missed?" Casey asked.

"Not much," R.J. said. "Theo popped the question yet?"

Casey laughed, barely managing not to spew pizza everywhere. 

"What?" R.J. asked.

"No, but I caught him looking at rings online and muttering something about diamonds being evil so what was he going to do?"

"I'll send him some links," R.J. said.

"Links?" Casey echoed. "Someone you want to introduce me to?"

"What, Dom's been asking for help..."

"Oh good, he's making an honest woman out of Fran, I've been worried."

R.J. cocked an eyebrow at Casey. They both cracked up at once.

It was nice getting to spend some time with a friend.


End file.
